Dell’s XPS lineup has always been seen as the pinnacle of PC design, ever since the company began making the series. While it used to be Dell’s gaming-centric line-up when it first arrived on the scene, the XPS series has morphed into productivity beasts in ground-breaking slim bodies as well as interesting design flourishes.

Dell XPS 15 9570 Specifications

As mentioned, we had the top-end configuration of the XPS 15 9570. You can also get it with a Core i7 8750H hexa-core processor along with the 16GB of RAM. Here are the rest of the common specs between the two models:

Since we got a review unit of the XPS 15, the box contents were limited to the laptop and its charger.

If you have seen the older 2017 model of the XPS 15 or the 2018 XPS 13 9370, you would be more than familiar with the design and build quality of the XPS 15 9570. The laptop is densely packed, built using top-notch materials and the assembly leaves little to be desired. It’s easily one of the best-looking premium laptops in the world, and that includes the new Apple MacBook Pro.

Overall, the XPS 15 brings superb construction but opening the laptop with one hand is not the easiest thing. That’s because the lid itself is quite a bit thinner than the base, as is the case with most laptops and you have to pull the lid up exactly from the middle.

The 4K IPS panel on the XPS 15 9570 is simply stunning. The brightness, viewing angles and color reproduction is just brilliant, and the bezel-less look just makes everything seem a lot more immersive.

Since this is a 4K touch panel, interacting with your fingers and stylus is a possibility. I didn’t find myself using the touch functionality all that much, given that this is not a 360-degree form factor. Also, considering that the display does not fold out fully flat, you can’t really use the touch screen as a presentation or interactive tool in front of others.

The irony of premium laptops these days is that you will find all the computing power but few ports to connect accessories. Dell has gone with a more robust collection of ports for the XPS 15 9570.

On the right, you will find a full-sized SD card reader, another USB 3.1 Gen 1 with PowerShare port, the signature Dell battery gauge indicator and a Noble lock slot for security.

Dell XPS 15: Keyboard and Touchpad

The first thing I do when I get a new laptop is to type a lengthy stream-of-consciousness take on what the keyboard is like. I usually just open up Notepad and start typing everything I can think of when using the keyboard. In this case, the .txt file ran quite long as typing on this keyboard is just too good.

To complement the excellent keyboard, the large and spacious trackpad on the XPS 15 comes with support for Windows Precision drivers and all of Windows 10’s gestures, which are quite cool. The whole trackpad is clicky in the XPS 15, but there is also a demarcated area for left and right clicks. My only complaint about the trackpad is that it tends to collect oil and smudges from your fingers over time, which means you have to wipe it down every now and then, to use it without that sticky cursor feeling.

To say that the Dell XPS 15 chomped through everything thrown at it would be an understatement. It did that and had room for more too.

We also tested a few popular games from our Steam library on this PC, even though with a slow 4K screen and a 1050 Ti, it’s not meant to be a gaming PC.

When it came to PUBG, the laptop gave us 30-32 FPS at High settings in 1080p resolution. The 4K screen made Vikendi look absolutely fantastic, although the game itself ran like dog on the PC in High settings, especially when you had enemies nearby or when you are trying to vault windows or transitioning between vehicles and running. The GPU simply couldn’t keep up with the beauty of the new PUBG map. Thankfully, we got around 45-55 FPS in Low graphics settings, which made things look less awesome, but the gameplay itself was much improved.

In 3D Mark Time Spy 1.0, the laptop scored 2484 in the graphics test and a superb 5438 in the CPU test, with an average of 15-18 FPS. 3DMark TimeSpy score for the Dell XPS 15 9570

Dell XPS 15: Battery Life

Dell has pushed the battery capacity to the absolute limit (legally speaking as laptops with more than 100 wHr batteries are not permissible in US flights) with a 97 wHr battery unit in the XPS 15. As a result, you get some really good endurance from this machine. I would say the Dell XPS 15 provides Ultrabook-like battery life with all the performance of a desktop PC, which is exactly what you want when you have such a large battery unit inside.

Charging speed for the Dell XPS 15 9570 is not exceptional. The laptop goes from 0 to full charge in just over 2 hours, which is not bad, but it’s not blazing either. We would like to see this being pushed up in the next-gen version, with some kind of fast charging tech, which would absolutely make the XPS 15 a long-lasting machine.

As with rival Core i9 systems, the Dell XPS 15 suffers from overheating and fan noise when put under intense workload. But in regular usage, the XPS 15 remains cool, calm and collected without overheating or too much fan noise. This is great because past generations of this laptop have been known to have coil whine and overheating issues.

Wondering how bad that webcam placement is? It’s pretty much the only real terrible thing about this laptop.

Dell XPS 15: The Good and The Bad

I really can’t find much wrong with the Dell XPS 15 9570. It’s certainly one of the best laptops you can buy right now. Even if you get the Core i7 variant with lower 16GB of DDR4 RAM, you are not short on power by any means. The only real dilemma here is about the price. Here’s the Dell XPS 15 in the balance:

  • Bright, vibrant display
  • Stunning design and build quality
  • Top-notch performance
  • Plenty of ports
  • Excellent WiFi and streaming performance
  • Capable of 4K video editing
  • Excellent keyboard and trackpad
  • Superb speakers
  • Healthy battery life

Cons:

  • Heavy, with wide footprint
  • Too pricey for Core i9 variant
  • Webcam on the chin
  • Sharp edges

Dell XPS 15: The Best High-End Windows Laptop?

When it comes to alternatives for the XPS 15, you will not find many in the market. At this price range, we are in workstation territory and edging into high-end MacBook Pro models.

At the moment, Dell has cornered the Indian market on beautiful high-performance laptops for Windows users, and the XPS 15 9570 is a prime example of this dominance.